


It all started with a skirt

by StupidChild



Series: Fukunaga is bigender and Yamamoto is his/her soulmate, fight me (please don’t actually do that I‘m scared) [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Background Ennotana - Freeform, Background Kuroken - Freeform, Bigender Fukunaga Shouhei, But only mild because I‘m bad negative emotions, Coming Out, Dysphoria, First Kiss, Fluff, Fukunaga Shouhei-centric, Fukunaga is precious and needs more attention, Gen, Getting Together, I Tried, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I also love this ship, I love Fukunaga too much, I promise, I takes me three days to write like 2000 word mini stories, M/M, No Angst, Nonbinary Ennoshita Chikara, Other, Self-Discovery, Texting, The first chapter isn’t all that shippy and can be read alone tho, yet I wrote this first chapter on the spot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:48:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23408566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StupidChild/pseuds/StupidChild
Summary: After Shouhei had learnt more about the whole gender thing, he started referring to himself as a girl in his head.Not always of course, only on those days.The days were Shouhei woke up and something felt wrong, when Shouhei couldn’t concentrate because it was impossible to figure out what exactly was the problem, when every time someone said "Fukunaga" or "Shouhei" and "He" in the same sentence, Shohei felt sick and wanted to cry.It didn’t change much about the last problem, but she started feeling a little better on those days.
Relationships: Ennoshita Chikara/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Fukunaga Shouhei & Ennoshita Chikara, Fukunaga Shouhei & Kozume Kenma, Fukunaga Shouhei & Nekoma Volleyball Club, Fukunaga Shouhei & Nishinoya Yuu, Fukunaga Shouhei & Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Fukunaga Shouhei & Yamamoto Taketora, Fukunaga Shouhei/Yamamoto Taketora, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Series: Fukunaga is bigender and Yamamoto is his/her soulmate, fight me (please don’t actually do that I‘m scared) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775173
Comments: 20
Kudos: 99





	1. It all started with a skirt and spiraled out of control because my love for Fukunaga inspires me

**Author's Note:**

> If you read this story, please tell me something. Has Fukunaga ever spoken in the anime? I‘m genuinely not sure. I don’t remember him doing it but...I have problems with my memory so that‘s not exactly helpful. If he did talk, please tell me what episode it was in the comments.
> 
> Headcanon: Fukunaga uses his voice so sparingly that he has really bad control over it. Like, sometimes he‘ll speak louder than he meant to and stuff like that.

There were days when Shouhei woke up and he knew that something was wrong. 

It wasn’t like he felt sick, or anything hurt, but he simply didn’t feel comfortable. Shouhei would feel uncomfortable all day. His clothes would feel itchy and sticky even if everything had been perfectly fine the day before and his body just wouldn’t feel right. He hated it. 

It hadn’t always been like that, but it had started in his second year of middle school and never stopped.  
Sometimes it only lasted for a day, other times the feeling stayed for a week, one time it had been there for a whole month and wouldn’t go away. The pauses where just as unpredictable, sometimes it didn’t happen for weeks, months even and sometimes the feeling came back after a day.

"Those days" as he had started calling them, would make everything a little more complicated. Shouhei would get extra sensitive on those days, when people talked about him he‘d cringe and start feeling sick. Or was it the way they talked about him that irritated Shouhei rather than the fact that they did it?  
Shouhei would also dread conversation. He‘d already feel uncomfortable and would want nothing more than to go home. Talking to people would only make it worse.  
Shouhei would also move slightly less graceful, less fluent and less controlled. How was someone supposed to be in perfect control of a body that they couldn’t stand? Usually Shouhei was pretty content with his body, but on those days he would want nothing more but to switch it out for something different. For what exactly he didn’t know.

Most of the time Shouhei would manage. Ignoring other people when they talk about him, wasn’t something Shouhei wasn’t used to. He was highly attentive and capable of picking up on almost everything around him, but he was also able to shut out anything he didn’t want to hear. On those days, Shouhei would just drown out everyone around him, except for his teachers and close friends of course.  
Not talking to people wasn’t difficult either. There were people he‘d known since middle school who had never heard his voice. His teachers had accepted that he wouldn’t verbally answer their questions and his friends were used to him only taking part in conversations through body language. He would occasionally talk to his friends or parents of course, but if he went a day without speaking a word then nobody would question him.  
His movements being less precise had been a problem for him at first, but he had learned to deal with those days in middle school. Nobody, not even Kenma would notice when his movements were strained. 

Still, there were times when Shouhei wouldn’t manage. Times when one of those days, got particularly bad.  
On those bad days he‘d try to shut out voices again, but would either end up shutting out everything and missing out on teachers or teammates talking to him, or horribly fail in shutting out anything at all.  
In either case, having a conversation with him became nearly impossible.  
It was on those days that his movements became so strained others would notice.  
Obviously, Kenma would. He was always strategizing and even more attentive than Shouhei himself. Kenma would send Shouhei a meaningful look and Shouhei would smile in return as to say "Don’t worry, I‘m fine."  
Surprisingly, Yamamoto would notice too. He would give Shouhei an unusually gentle slap on the back and ask "Are you feeling okay?" or "Is something wrong?" in an even more unusual low and soft voice. Then Shouhei would pat his friend’s head and continue what he was doing before. Their conversation would be over and Yamamoto would have to live with "Yes, I‘m fine." or "No, don’t worry." as an answer. 

Shouhei hated those bad days even more than those usual days.

Near the end of his first year of Highschool, Shouhei started looking at his mother’s fashion magazines. He didn’t know why, he just found them interesting.  
Whenever he‘d see a particularly pretty dress, a particularly nice blouse, or a particularly cute hair clip in a store he‘d stop and stare. Even if only for a few seconds, he would find himself staring.  
So when he found the magazines with all the girly clothes and accessories, he couldn’t help himself.  
Thankfully his parents didn’t question him. Why should they? Shouhei just liked looking at dresses. On those days, he‘d even find himself wishing to wear one of them.  
That, he didn‘t let his parents know.

On Friday in the first week of his second Highschool year, something happened. Something small, that seemed like it would have no effect on his life, but actually was a trigger for change.

Shouhei immediately checked the fridge. Not for food, but for the notes he knew he mother would leave. His father was on a business trip and his mother usually worked late on Fridays, so if there were any chores left it was up to Shouhei to do them. The note his mother had left him simply said "Laundry-my room".  
Shouhei was relieved, as he wouldn’t have to do any chores that day. The laundry was located in his parents‘s room, dry already and all he would have to do was retrieve his own clothes. 

He was surprised to find a beautiful skirt. It was white with little red flowers near the bottom and that was all Shouhei had to see to fall in love with it. To his surprise, it was on top of his mother’s "I‘ll throw these out" pile. He had never seen his mother wear it before and this upset him, as it was such a beautiful piece and he wouldn’t get to see how it looked when someone wore it.  
That’s when it hit him. He could...try it on.

Shouhei tried to convince himself that he was doing it out of curiosity, but he was having one of those days and had the perfect opportunity and excuse to finally try on a skirt, a gorgeous one at that. He knew that he would regret not doing it for the rest of his life, so he did it.  
Nothing would happen, nobody would ever find out and it would just be another memory he kept to himself for forever.  
At least that was what he told himself.

He threw his shorts to the ground and took the skirt in his hands. Slowly, he put it on. His hand were shaky as he pulled it up. When he finally let go of it, he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Never had Shouhei been more thankful that he and his mother shared the same build and were almost the same height. The skirt fit him just right.

Wearing a skirt felt weird, almost as if he wasn’t wearing anything besides his shirt and underwear.  
Weird wasn’t necessarily bad.  
It reached down to his knees, not actually covering them and swayed lightly every time Shouhei moved. He looked into the mirror and gasped. "Pretty...", he thought. The unfamiliar piece of clothing felt new and exciting, he also felt pretty. He liked that feeling.

With the right top and just a little bit of Make-up he would’ve probably passed as a girl, and he was fully aware of that.  
Suddenly Shouhei wished that he would never have to take the skirt of. Maybe he could keep it. At first that thought seemed absurd to Shouhei, but his mother was going to throw it out, surely she wouldn’t care if it went messing.

He became so distracted by his inner debate, he didn’t notice the sound of a door opening and footsteps nearing his parents‘ room.

It was already too late for him to react when he heard the door handle being pressed down. Before Shouhei knew what was happening, his mother was standing a few steps away from him, wide eyed and mouth agape.

For the first time in what felt like forever, Shouhei visibly panicked. Anybody who didn’t know him well wouldn’t have been able to tell, but Shouhei knew that she did.  
He knew that his eyebrows were pulled up just a little higher, that his stance was just a little stiffer and how his fingers twitched ever so often.  
His mother had not only caught him wearing a skirt, but also looking at himself in the mirror fondly while wearing it. The worst thing was that he could’ve probably played it of as a dare or something similar if he hadn’t let his panic show. If his mother hadn’t thought of her child as a freak before she did now, Shouhei was sure of it.

It was the mix of fear of his mother’s reaction, shock that she was here, confusion as to why he hadn’t noticed her before, being upset because his emotions were too easy to read and shame, which shocked him so much that he just broke down and stared. Unable to force any words out of his throat, unable to move even an inch, unable to tear his gaze from his mother’s shocked expression, barely, just barely able to breath.

Silence, for some time there was just silence and Shouhei didn’t know if it was for ten seconds or a whole minute because honestly? To him it felt like an hour had passed.

It was only when his mother took a few steps forward that he regained the ability to speak. Not that he did it of course, but knowing that he could calmed Shouhei enough to be able to easily breath again. 

"Shouhei do you like that skirt?" It was weird how that was the first thing she said, the first question she chose to ask, but Shouhei didn’t question it. He just nodded. "I wasn’t planning on keeping it. Would you like to have it, Shouhei?", she asked, her voice calm and soothing. He nodded again. 

Shouhei felt a mix of emotions and he couldn’t have described it if he had tried. There was just one thing he could make out: relief.

His mother hummed and smiled at him. "You seem to like feminine clothing. If you want, you can look through some more of my things and see if you like anything.", she said while ruffling her child‘s hair. Said child was rather overwhelmed, unable to do anything but stare at his mother. "You look cute, Shouhei." Maybe this wasn’t as bad as he thought.

"Sometimes...", Shouhei whispered. "Sometimes I want to try girly things. I like being pretty." His voice was soft and quiet and he himself wasn’t used to the sound, he didn’t hear it often enough. Still, his mother didn’t seem surprised when he spoke she just smiled at him and nodded.

A week later, Shouhei found himself sitting on the couch wearing his new favorite skirt, white stockings and a red blouse, while being taught how to properly paint his nails by his mother. 

He was having another one of those days and watching his nails slowly being covered with the cherry red nail polish worked wonders against his bad mood, especially because he himself was the one moving the brush. It made him feel like he could finally do something to make the uncomfortable feeling a little weaker and he could do it with his own power.

"I‘m Home." A familiar voice said from the doorway. Shouhei barely recognized the voice as his father’s, he was too concentrated on his nails. It was only when he heard his mother’s voice call out "Welcome home!" that he looked up and saw his father standing in front of him. Shouhei flinched.

His mother’s reaction to his 'interests' had been better than anything he could have wished for, but his father had been on a business trip this whole time and now came home to his son in a skirt, painting his nails. Shouhei mouthed a curse. He had meant to say it actually, but his voice was very unreliable in stress situations as he barely used it.

His parents picked up on everything he said, even if it was inaudible. "Don’t worry Shouhei, your mother already told me over the phone, I don’t see why I should have a problem with the way you chose to dress. You look pretty, by the way." That’s what his father said and Shouhei couldn’t help but smile at those words. It was only a small smile, but anybody would have been able to notice it and on Shouhei‘s usually expressionless face, that meant the world.

A lot of things changed on that day, but in the end nothing was different.  
On those days, Shouhei would come home and change into something feminine, maybe paint his nails or experiment with makeup, on weekends he could spend the whole day doing that. He suddenly had a drawer with neatly folded feminine clothing and a box with accessories, makeup and nail polish under his bed. The only thing that was missing was a pair of pretty shoes, but he wasn’t planning on going out dressed "pretty" anyways. His parents would even bring home cute hair clips or a nail polish which they thought would fit Shouhei sometimes.  
But they didn’t treat Shouhei any different than before. They were still the quiet, loving and carefree people who he had spent all his life with and treated him as if nothing had changed.  
Shouhei was grateful.

The next little event that had great impact on his life was a single conversation.

He was sleeping over at Yamamoto‘s house. Yamamoto was loud, energetic and in all honesty not the brightest, Shouhei wasn‘t sure why he enjoyed his teammate‘s company instead of being annoyed by him. He chose to believe that Nekoma‘s ace just had that affect on people.

He wasn’t sure how they ended up on a Skype call with Yamamoto‘s "Crow Bro" Tanaka who was having a sleepover with one of his teammates at the same time, but they somehow did. Shouhei was familiar with Tanaka as he and Yamamoto kept in touch, he liked him. Karasuno’s baldy was different from Yamamoto, but still had that charming stupidity and boldness. He had never talked to Ennoshita Chikara before, but Shouhei could already tell that he liked him too.

Ennoshita‘s relationship with Tanaka, was similar to his with Yamamoto and while there were still big differences between them, he found himself relating to the other boy. (That Ennoshita guy talked for one, on top of that he was the boss of the second years? Shouhei could never control Yamamoto like that, to think that Ennoshita had two troublemakers to deal with...)

Yamamoto and Tanaka where happily yelling at each other through the screen, Ennoshita threw in some snarky comment here or there and Shouhei listened to their conversation and let Yamamoto speak for him if he had anything to add. He enjoyed himself and barely noticed it happening, but he noticed it.

Tanaka was talking about how Ennoshita had forced him to study before their Skype call and what a mean teacher the other is, when he said it. "They actually rolled up a magazine and hit me with it when I complained! Can you believe that?" Shouhei was confused, "they" Ennoshita wasn’t plural? He glanced at Yamamoto, but he hadn’t noticed anything, too invested in Tanaka‘s story. It looked like Tanaka and Ennoshita hadn’t noticed what he had said either. "They" Shouhei repeated. Suddenly the two "delinquents" stopped talking and the attention shifted to him. Yamamoto looked at him questioningly, Ennoshita‘s eyes widened in panic and Tanaka‘s face had "I messed up" written all over it. Confused, Shouhei blinked. Realization hit him and his mouth was stuck in an o shape. He hadn’t expected anybody to hear him.

A really, really uncomfortable silence washed over them and Shouhei was about to apologize when someone spoke up. "I use they/them pronouns. I‘m nonbinary." Ennoshita broke the silence and Tanaka was gaping at him? Them? Shouhei was even more confused and could only bring himself to mouth "what" "The whole gender thing is complicated, but it’s a spectrum, or that’s what we see it as. Basically I‘m out of the binary, neither boy nor girl." The tired looking -boy? No not boy- said. Shouhei was intrigued, gender on a spectrum. Could he decide his gender or something? Wasn’t it assigned to him at birth? 

"Akane explains me some lgbtq+ stuff sometimes, but I don’t really get the whole gender thing, but I don’t think that matters as Long as you’re happy with yourself. So thanks for telling us, you’re valid!" Yamamoto said. Sweet Yamamoto, Shouhei was reminded why he (was Shouhei really a he?) liked him so much. Shouhei couldn’t really hear what was said next, only that three different voices were talking, he was too concentrated on thinking about gender, his gender.  
Suddenly Yamamoto put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey Ennoshita-san? Could you maybe explain that whole gender thing a little more? Fukunaga is interested in it." He then softly smiled at Shouhei. (Shouhei began to wonder how someone with a Mohawk and bleached hair could look so soft and kitten-like while smiling.) 

Now it was Tanaka‘s turn to throw in comments while Ennoshita talked. Ennoshita talked and talked and Shouhei listened. When he came home Sunday afternoon, he had their number. He now related to them in even more ways.  
They made Shouhei question some things. He was so distracted by that, he almost didn’t get giggly for a whole day because he had found a new friend. Almost.

When Shouhei woke up the next day and realized that he was having one of those days, he began thinking. Maybe, just maybe he‘d be less uncomfortable if he referred to himself as she. He didn’t know if he was actually feeling like a girl, but he could find out if he did. If it was only in Shouhei‘s head, nobody would ever know and it wouldn’t hurt to try. So she tried.

It was pleasant.

Shouhei felt just a little more comfortable when she kept telling herself she was a girl. She was surprised to find out that painting her nails was even more satisfying than usual. The light blue dress she wore after school felt even prettier and it felt right, so right.  
Shouhei hadn’t expected this.

After the next two weeks in which Shouhei experienced five of those days, she started calling them "girl days". On every one of her girl days she referred to herself as a girl and Shouhei finally realized that no, she definitely wasn’t a boy. Not always at least.

Shouhei was laying in bed, playing games on his phone on a Wednesday night and boy day when he suddenly decided that, no he wasn’t satisfied with just knowing that he wasn’t always a boy. He still didn’t have a clue what he was and he liked being able to put labels onto everything.  
Shouhei wanted everything to be logical and make sense. He knew that this wasn’t always possible, but when it was, he wasn’t satisfied until he could google the definition of it.

He remembered Ennoshita mentioning the term "Genderfluid", so he looked into it. It was close, but didn’t feel right. Something, something about it was off. Shouhei concluded that, perhaps he was genderfluid, but in a different more specific way. He only ever was a boy or a girl, never both or anything in between. Shouhei continued his search. 

It took him fifteen minutes to find the word he was looking for. Shouhei had never been more grateful that the internet existed.

Thanks to Ennoshita and their wisdom, he already had a good understanding of gender itself, but he still lightly skimmed the articles on it. Then began the part he was really interested in. He had stumbled upon a word that immediately caught his eye: bigender.  
"Bigender is a gender identity which can be literally translated as 'two genders' or 'double gender'. Bigender people experience exactly two gender identities, either simultaneously or varying between the two. These two gender identities could be male and female, but could also include non-binary identities."

Shouhei liked how that sounded, liked how it was exactly what he was feeling like. That was the moment he knew that: Fukunaga Shouhei was bigender. Knowing that felt good.

Before he knew what he was doing, he had opened his messenger app and typed a sentence. His thumb was already hovering over the send button when he stopped himself. He was about to send a text towards Ennoshita.

In the spawn of the last two weeks, they had become someone Shouhei liked, trusted and could genuinely consider a close friend. They had also introduced him to the concept of gender and sex being different things and he doubted that he would’ve found out about it at all without them. Shouhei didn’t talk much, not even through text but Ennoshita had somehow managed to make him open up. The two of them didn’t have particularly long conversations, but their chat was already longer than that with most of his other friends (not Yamamoto of course)  
He was grateful to have them as a friend.

So Shouhei decided to send the message.

Me: I‘m bigender

After about five minutes, Ennoshita replied.

Tired crow: Are you serious? Because if yes then I‘m super happy that you figured yourself out

Me: ofc I am  
Me: it’s only thx to u tho

Tired crow: What did I do?

Me: guess I just never thought not being a boy was an option 

Tired crow: Ah of course. Well, I‘m glad I helped then. Pronouns?

Me: depends  
Me: he/him rn

Tired crow: Tanaka is trying to read over my shoulder. Is it okay if he knows?

Me: that‘s fine 

Tired crow: WOOOO Fukunaga-san I‘m happy 4 u 2!!!!!! Tell us when your pronouns change Kay?  
Tired crow: it’s Tanaka btw

Me: I figured  
Me: ok I will

Tired crow: Have you thought about the whole name thing yet? I personally am fine with Chikara, but most people like to have unisex names. I‘ve also heard of Genderqueer people going by two different names. 

Me: haven’t rlly thought about it  
Me: but I like my name  
Me: I’m shouhei

Tired crow: As long as you’re happy with it, it’s good.

Me: 

Tired crow: Fukunaga?

Me: thank u  
Me: thank u so much

Tired crow:...?

Me: u rlly helped me  
Me: no idea what I would’ve done without u

Tired crow: You’re welcome then. I‘m happy for you, Fukunaga.

Me: btw Ennoshita?  
Me: y is Tanaka next to u in your room in the middle of the night  
Me: or r u in his room  
Me: (・・?)

Tired crow:...Sleepover...?

Me: Wednesday

Tired crow: You‘ve never had a sleepover in the middle of the week?

Me: Σ（ﾟдﾟlll）

Tired crow: So you’re going back to those? It was getting weird to see you texting so much if I‘m being honest.  
Tired crow: It’s probably for the best, I understand that not everyone uses punctuation while texting, but the lack of it plus your spelling was getting kinda painful to look at. Better than Tanaka or Noya, but still bad.

Me: ( T_T)

Tired crow:  
Tired crow: ( T_T)＼(^-^ )

Shouhei accidentally dropped his phone on his face. Apparently it was time for him to finally go to sleep.

When Shouhei woke up the next day she was feeling girly.

She wanted everyone to know, everyone to call her a girl today, but she knew that wasn’t possible. People made a big deal out of coming out, maybe it was, Shouhei realized. Acceptance was not something to be taken for granted. Still, there were a few people she wanted- no that had to know. Her parents of course, but also Yamamoto and Kenma. Her second mom (read: Yaku) should probably know as well.  
Shouhei at least had a plan on how to come out to her parents.  
She was going to do it today. The sooner the better, she decided. 

Her time at school was relatively normal, the only interesting thing that happened was when Yamamoto complimented her. She had spontaneously decided to wear one of her new hair clips, a white cat shaped one with little red whiskers. It was small and didn’t even hold any hair back, but was simply clipped into Shouhei’s hair only serving as accessory.

Kenma, Yamamoto and Shouhei were having lunch together (Kenma had already finished after about two minutes and was now invested in some random video game as per usual), when Yamamoto seemed to suddenly notice the clip in her hair. "Oh Fukunaga I‘ve never seen you wear hair clips.", he said. Then he smiled that adorable kitten smile of his (it was going to be the death of Shouhei) "Looks cute on you."

Shouhei decided that she‘d have to wear more cute hair clips on her girl days.

Practice was nothing special. Lev had tried to pick up Yaku and gotten kicked were the light doesn’t shine at one point and Shouhei couldn’t help but snicker, but aside from it nothing out of the ordinary happened.

She came home, changed into some leggings and a random t-Shirt, did her homework and went to have dinner with her parents. That’s when she remembered what she had told herself in the morning. Suddenly Shouhei understood why people made a big deal out of coming out. It was scary.

Coming out to Ennoshita hadn’t been difficulty because she already knew that they’d fully accept her. With her parents she couldn’t know for sure. They may have been supportive of her wearing feminine clothing at home, but she had never left the house with them. Her parents could just be hoping that it was a phase and Shouhei would grow out of it and that she‘d never go out in a skirt. Maybe they wouldn’t be accepting of Shouhei telling them that she wasn’t a boy. 

She was scared and considered not telling them today. Ultimately she decided not to tell them, but to still let them know. Her voice tended to simply not work when she panicked and she doubted that it wouldn’t leave her in a situation like this. (Besides, if she verbally came out to her parents and explained both the term bigender and the Concept of gender being on a spectrum in one sitting, she’d probably talk more than she had in her entire first year of Highschool. She believed that even if her voice wouldn’t leave her, her throat would probably be soar afterwards.)

The Fukunaga family always held light conversation at the beginning and end of their dinner, but ate in comfortable silence. For the first time in years, Shouhei was the one to break that silence. "I want you to know something...", she mumbled. Her words were quiet and muffled, but her parents just stared at her expectingly. She took out her phone, opened the tab with the article from the day before and wordlessly placed it between her parents‘ empty plates. 

They understood. Her father took the phone and he and his wife silently read the article together. It not only explained what gender really meant, but also explained some gender identities. Biegender was one of them. Shouhei didn’t know how much time had passed, but it felt like an eternity. Fear of rejection was swallowing her up, this had been a stupid idea. She felt nauseous and was about ready to pass out when her father put down the phone and finally spoke.

"Well...that was quite...interesting. Shouhei, are you trying to tell us something?" His voice was calm and gentle and Shouhei noted that he was coaxing her into speaking as if she was a toddler. She chose to ignore that and took her phone. Quickly, she scrolled up to the bigender part. She turned her phone so her parents could see the screen and hesitantly pointed at herself.

"Ah, I suppose that makes sense.", her mother calmly said. "I‘m assuming that you feel like a girl on the days where you suddenly walk around the house in my old clothes?" Shouhei nodded. "Well that’s quit a lot to take in...but we don’t mind, do we sweetheart?" Shouhei let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Her mother had said that they didn’t mind. It was fine. "Of course we don’t mind. Shouhei we love you and all we want is you to be happy.", her father added. 

Shouhei didn’t realize she was crying until her mother gently wiped the tears of her face. "Sho, are you a girl today?", she asked. Shouhei wanted to say yes, but her voice wasn’t cooperating she she just nodded again. 

The Fukunaga couple waited for their child to stop crying before they started asking questions. "Should we even still call you Shouhei? It would take some getting used to if not, but if you want a new name that‘s fine.", her father began. "Shouhei.", she answered.

"Since when do you know?" "Yesterday." "How did you figure it out?" "Ennoshita." "Does anybody aside from us know?" "Ennoshita n Tanaka-San." "Wait, who are those two again? They’re not from your team." "Yeah, and how did that Ennoshita help you figure it out?" Shouhei sighed, looks like she wouldn’t get around the whole talking thing.

When Shouhei went to bed she decided not to talk for at least the next twenty-four hours. That had been too much. She decided to text Ennoshita.

Me: told my parents 

Tired crow: Seriously? Wow. It took me almost a month to fess up and tell mine...  
Tired crow: How‘d it go?

Me: (*^◯^*)

Tired crow: I‘m taking that as "good"  
Tired crow: Tanaka says good job.

Me: (・・?)

Tired crow: Yes we’re together again. Don’t question my life decisions.

Me: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Tired crow: FUKUNAGA WTF  
Tired crow: It’s not like that I swear!

Me: Tanaka-san better treat u rite  
Me: ima kick his butt if he dsnt  
Me: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

Tired crow: Fukunaga I swear to Asahi-  
Tired crow: We‘re not dating.

Me: yet

Tired crow: I‘ll tell Tanaka to spike a volleyball at your face.

Me: Yamamoto > Tanaka

Tired crow: Crap, forgot about him.  
Tired crow: Wait, no. I refuse to believe that his spikes are stronger than Tanaka‘s.

Shouhei smiled to herself, when she suddenly got a message from Tanaka. She was surprised, as they usually communicated through Ennoshita. Heavens knows why.

Angery birb: u know...  
Angery birb: u dont hab to call me Tanaka-San  
Angery birb: Tanaka s fin

Me: god they were right it IS painful to look at  
Me: worse than me even  
Me: ...u can just call me Fukunaga then...

Angery birb: frick u Fukunaga 

Me: no  
Me: u can do that to Ennoshita 

Angery birb:  
Angery birb: that idear is consideration worthy...

Me: "consideration" right "idea" wrong  
Me: h o w ? ? ?

Angery birb: THIS IS BULLYING!!!!!  
Angery birb: I See y Chikara likes u

Me: (・●・)

Shouhei smiled. Today had been a good day.  
She decided that she would come out to Yamamoto next, he was her closest friend and she knew that he wouldn’t mind. On top of that, she trusted him more than any of her other friends. She didn’t like picking favorites, but if she had to then she‘d pick Yamamoto without hesitation.

Tiger cub: U KNOW WHAT?!  
Tiger cub: I saw a rlly cute hair clip earlier! It was a cat like yours but bigger and yellow!!!  
Tiger cub: hope you don’t mind that I bought it 4 u! U don’t have to wear it if u don‘t like it, just couldn’t help myself

Me: (*^o^*)  
Me: I’ll wear it  
Me: I like cat ones  
Me: thx

Tiger cub: REALLY?  
Tiger cub: whenever I see one I‘ll get it for u!  
Tiger cub: u don’t have to thank me! I like seeing u smile!!!

Yes, she liked him. Really, really liked him a lot. He made her smile.


	2. Tiger cub and crackhead kittens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fukunaga really likes Yamamoto, Yamamoto really likes Fukunaga and the Nekoma volleyball club is a really great family.

Tiger cub: Heyyyyyy can I com over???

Me: when

Tiger cub: lik...now 

Sunday afternoon, about two weeks after Shouhei discovered she was bigender. She hadn’t told Yamamoto yet. Yes, she wanted to but she didn’t feel like rushing it. Until now, she had only ever had the chance to tell him at school or over text and she wasn’t a fan of either of those options.

Me: sure  
Me: may I ask y

Tiger cub: Im bore ant just wantet to c u !!!

Shouhei would’ve cringed at the spelling if the words hadn’t made her heart flutter. 

Tiger cub: gimme 20 minuts

She got up from her bed and quickly made her way downstairs where her mother was watching tv. 

"Sho-Chan is there something you need?", her mother asked. Shouhei pushed her hair up to Imitate a Mohawk. "Yamamoto? When does he want to come over?" His name alone made Shouhei smile, she held up two fingers. Her mother hummed and smiled back at her before calling out to her husband. "Honey! Yamamoto is coming over in twenty minutes!" "That’s good." Came the response from who knows where.

Her Mother looked her up and down and then raised an eyebrow. Shouhei understood.

She was wearing her a red blouse, the skirt that had started all of this and white stockings with cat ears. A few strands of her hair were pushed back by one of the hair clips Yamamoto had bought for her. It was white and shaped like the head of a cat, the details of the face were red.  
Red nail polish, some eyeliner, some highlighter, some mascara. Only a little, but she looked considerably more feminine. Someone who had never seen Shouhei before would think she was a girl, biologically a girl.

Shouhei just felt extra pretty today, she was not going to change. Never.  
She nodded at her mother, who simply hummed in response.

For the next fifteen minutes, Shouhei sat in her room and thought about her decision. Yamamoto was going to be okay with this. Or was he? He seemed supportive of Ennoshita, but for all she knew he could’ve just been acting because Tanaka really cared about them. Maybe he would feel super uncomfortable and lie so he wouldn’t hurt Shouhei‘s feelings.  
She was beginning to feel nauseous, so nauseous. She jumped up from where she was sitting and contemplated changing, she still had five minutes.

Then she heard the doorbell ring and she knew that it was too late.

Her parents would let him in any second now. Of course he would come five minutes earlier, he had probably ran all the way to Shouhei‘s house. Slowly, she opened her bedroom door, stepped into the hallway and made her way towards the stairs. Her parents were quiet people, so she only heard one part of the conversation. "Hello Fukunaga-san! Pardon the intrusion!" "He’s in his room? Okay." Then there were loud footsteps.

The next thing she knew was that Yamamoto was standing in front of her, mouth agape and with wide eyes. "Fukunaga...?", he asked and confusion laced his voice. It took Shouhei every bit of self control to not run away. She motioned for her friend to follow her and went to her room.

Yamato closed the door behind him, they both sat down on the floor and there was a moment of uncomfortable silence. Shouhei looked at the floor and Panicked, why did she think this was a good idea? Yamamoto was probably weirded out and now he would- "Fukunaga." She looked up at him. "You look really, really cute. You always are, but like this You’re even more cute." Of course, what was she even scared about? This was Yamamoto.

She looked into her teammate‘s, best friend’s and crush‘s eyes and took a deep breath. "I‘m bigender." Saying that felt good, so unbelievably good. "Oh I know what that means! That‘s great Fukunaga! Thank you for telling me."

A wave of relief washed over Shouhei. "Fukunaga your smile is so cute! I barely get to see it but I already told you that I love seeing you smile.", Yamamoto suddenly said. Was she smiling? It seemed like it. She seriously doubted that her smile was half as cute as his kitten smile.

They spent the rest of the day together. Yamamoto made sure that he knew everything about Shouhei‘s gender and what she was comfortable with and was promised regular updates on pronouns.  
He asked her to paint her nails, which she happily did. They played video games, Shouhei verbally said at least five whole sentences while doing so and Yamamoto couldn’t wipe the grin of his face because she actually talked to him.

Shouhei was sad when he had to leave. Yamamoto was already out of the front door when he suddenly stopped. "Can I call you Shouhei?" He asked without turning around. She didn’t hesitate to answer. "Sure." For once, her voice was calm and steady. He turned around and smiled at her, that big, pure, adorable kitten smile. "I don’t really remember you saying my name out loud, but you know it’s fine to call me Taketora right? Or just Tora.", he said. 

Shouhei‘s heart began beating faster and she smiled back at him. "See you tomorrow, Tora." Yamamoto‘s, no Taketora‘s smile became even brighter and Shouhei could feel her ears heating up. "Yeah, see you tomorrow Shouhei-chan!", he called out before he began jogging back home. Aside from her family, Chikara was the only person who called Shouhei by her first name and they had only started a week ago. So Taketora doing it already made Shouhei flustered enough, but of course he had to add "chan", as if hearing her given name out of his mouth didn't already make her feel all mushy inside. Shouhei was sure that her blush had been visible enough for Taketora to see, but right then she was too happy to be embarrassed. 

Tiger cub: btw  
Tiger cub: ur even cuter when u blush!!!!

Me: (≧∀≦)

Tiger cub: c ?  
Tiber cub: adoreble  
Tiger cub: wait no-  
Tiger cub: adorabil  
Tiger cub: adoreable?  
Tiger cub: u get the point

She buried her face in her pillow, as if that would somehow cool it down. "Sho-chan I'm coming in." that was her mother. Shouhei lifted her head from the pillow and looked at her mother who was now standing in her room. "I've wanted to ask this for a while now. is Yamamoto your boyfriend?", she said. Was Shouhei blushing again? Judging by her mother's smirk she definitely was. Shouhei shook her head. Her mother hummed. "But you like him?", she then asked. Shouhei hesitated before closing her eyes and nodding. Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder and her mother's gentle smile was right in front of her. "You should ask him out then. Your father and I really like him, he seems to always make you smile." and then she left without another word.

It was true, he did make her smile.

When Shouhei met Taketora on his way to school the next day like he always did, Taketora happily slung and arm around his shoulder. "Morning Shouhei!.", he said. "What are your pronouns today?" Shouhei couldn't stop the little smile that slowly creeped onto his face. "He."

Their teammates noticed the change, but the most extreme reaction to it was Kenma‘s eyebrow raise when Taketora had yelled Shouhei‘s name across the gym.

At the end of morning practice, Kuroo had an announcement to make. Shouhei was intrigued, their captain really didn’t make a lot of those. When everyone was seated in a half circle around Kuroo and Kenma out of all people kept standing next to him, Shouhei realized that this was something serious. 

Kuroo cleared his throat. "I‘m bisexual.", he began. Everyone stared at him. He then pointed at Kenma. "He‘s Pansexual. We‘ve been dating since forever. Thought we‘d finally tell you."  
It was was certainly not was Shouhei was expecting, but he couldn’t say that he was surprised.

"What’s Pansexual?", Lev asked. "It’s kinda similar to bisexual. Basically, you can be into anyone regardless of gender.", came Taketora‘s answer. "Out of all the People here who could know that, you actually were the one I least expected to.", Kenma murmured.  
And suddenly everyone was talking with each other. "Since when does Yamamoto know the word 'regardless'?" "Kuroo-san, Kenma-san just know that we don‘t think any different of you now." "Pay up Inuoka, I told you they were a thing." Their team’s reaction to the whole coming out thing wasn’t bad at least, Shouhei was glad. He still remembered sitting on Taketora‘s bed and letting Akane lecture them about Pansexuality in their first year. She had also mentioned Asexuality and even Demisexuality, which Shouhei had recently discovered was another thing he and Chikara had in common. 

"Hey everyone!", Takerora suddenly yelled. Shouhei already knew what was coming. Despite contrary belief, Yamamoto Taketora was not straight. He liked girls, but he wasn’t straight. To this very day Shouhei giggled when remembering how he pointed out his friend‘s crush on their previous captain. Nobody had noticed besides him and he had to promise to never speak of it again, but the memory still made him randomly smile sometimes.

"Since these two came out, I might as well do too!" And suddenly everyone‘s attention shifted to Taketora. He glanced at Shouhei, who nodded encouragingly and then continued speaking in his usual confident tone. "I‘m Pansexual too.", he said.

Now Yaku stood up too. "I‘m certainly not straight. Still questioning. I guess we‘re doing a coming out circle now, anybody else?" The libero said this in an obviously joking manner, still Shouhei raised his hand. All eyes were on him as he took a deep breath and spoke. "I‘m demisexual." That was something he could tell them. Maybe, just maybe he would be able to tell them he wasn’t a boy in the near future too, but he wasn’t in a rush to do so.

"I have absolutely no idea what that means, but I support you Fukunaga-san. You too Yaku-san and Yamamoto-san.", Inuoka said happily. Again Shouhei couldn’t help but smile, tho he knew no one but Taketora could tell. "Tora.", he said and his friend understood and turned towards the first year. "Inuoka do you maybe want me to explain?" "YES PLEASE SENPAI!"

———

Training camp was coming up and Karasuno would be allowed to join. Shouhei was in a Good mood after hearing that. She was looking forward to seeing Chikara.

The team ate lunch together once a week and today was that day. "I‘m so excited to see my crow bro! I‘ll spike a ball into Tanaka‘s face first thing when we‘re there!", Taketora yelled and Shouhei chuckled.

"I wanna see Hinata! What if he jumps even higher than before?!", Inuoka said while chewing. "I also want to meet that Hinata guy! I want to see if his jumps are really that amazing!", Lev added. "Shouyo can jump over your head Lev.", Kenma said. "Whaaaaaaaat?!"

"Karasuno seems even more chaotic than you guys. The only two sane people are Sugawara-san and their ace, Azumane-san I think. Talking with Sugawara-San for a bit was pleasant actually, I look forward to doing it again. Also Inuoka don’t talk with food in your mouth.", Yaku scolded. "Sorry Yaku-san!"  
Kuroo snickered. "What was that about Team mom again?", he asked. This earned him a kick. Their captain just continued talking as if nothing happened. "Can’t wait to see how they improved. I sure hope that Sawamura-san and the others have some new tricks up their sleeves."

"I had a short conversation with Azumane-san last time, he’s very nice. What about you Fukunaga? Anybody from Karasuno you‘ve taken a liking to?" Leave it to Kai to include Shouhei in a conversation. She nodded. This perked Kuroo‘s interest. "Really?", he asked. "I thought you didn’t even talk to them cause...well...you usually don’t. Who is it?" "Chikara.", she said quietly.

It didn’t surprise her that everyone looked at her questioningly, but she felt like she’d done enough talking for the day and didn’t explain herself. "Oh wait...that’s Ennoshita‘s first name. I was confused for a second there.", Taketora finally said.

Before she knew what was happening, Yaku had grabbed Shouhei‘s shoulders. "You don’t use honorifics AND are on first name basis with this guy? Who is he? Which one is he? How do you even know him if you didn’t talk to him and how are you so close? Fukunaga if he’s been pressuring you to talk to him or anything you can just ignore him don’t worry, I‘ll even beat him up for you. Yo-" she clasped a hand over his mouth.  
Whatever it was with Yaku‘s motherly instinct it was terrifying.

"What Are you worrying about Yaku-san? I let Tanaka call me Tora too and we’ve literally only met once.", Taketora said while slowly prying his senpai‘s hands of his friend. "Well yeah, but you have his number and you actually talk to people. Loudly. Fukunaga would never talk to, much less bond with strangers. Which is why I‘m worried." "They met through Tanaka and me okay? And they don’t actually talk, just text. So calm down Yaku-San none of your children are in danger." If Yaku noticed the children thing, he decided not to comment on it.

In a minute or so, the topic of their conversation had changed again, which was when Shouhei scooped closer to Taketora. She leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "Tora.", she said. He audibly gulped. "Y-yes?" "It’s Tanaka and I, not Tanaka and me." Shouhei noted that Taketora‘s ears were unusually red.

———

Shouhei and Chikara didn’t have much time to talk during training camp, until late in the evening. Which is when they sat next to each other on the floor, leaning against a wall. Both in their own blanket burrito. 

In the middle of the room, Tanaka and Taketora would have an unnecessarily loud debate, Nishinoya would always join them at some point. Shouhei didn’t really listen to them. Instead, she had low conversations with Chikara. They were mostly one sided, but Shouhei said an awful lot for her standards. She ignored Yaku in the corner, whipping a tear from his face and mumbling something about his "silent kitten" finally coming its of his shell.

She didn’t really know anything about Nishinoya aside from him being an amazing Libero and a second year. Apparently, he and Tanaka were the first two people Chikara had come out to as nonbinary.

On the third night, Shouhei and Chikara decided to listen to the "Kiyoko protection squad" debates. They were amused to say the least. "Karasuno has cuter members even if you don’t count Ya-chan!" Nishinoya yelled and Shouhei only had one question: how did the the "is square pizza disgusting?" debate escalate into this in just five minutes?

"We have Shouyo, he‘s adorable for obvious reasons. Yamaguchi is also very adorable and has freckles, that gives him extra cute points and then there’s Asahi-san. Before you tell me he looks more intimidating than cute hear me out. He wears those sweaters over his uniform that usually only the girls wear and it’s cute. Also his personality is definitely at least a 9 out of 10 on a cute ranking." The whole room stared at him, Tanaka nodded in agreement and Azumane looked like he was legitimately dying.

"You know...I hate to say it but Noya has a point.", Chikara said. "THANK YOU CHIKARA!" the Libero exclaimed. "Well Tora? Can Nekoma compete?", Tanaka asked.

"Well...for one there‘s Inuoka. I don’t have to explain that one. Then there’s Shibayama. I mean look at him.", Taketora said. Was he actually using his brain? Shouhei was a Little shocked. "That’s only two! Therefore Karasuno wi-" "SHOUHEI!" Taketora interrupted Tanaka and suddenly jumped up and pulled to Shouhei to her feet.

"Tanaka, Noya-san. I present to you the single most adorable Nekoma player. Fukunaga Shouhei." Oh. OH. Shouhei was going to die and it was going to be Taketora‘s fault. Distressed, she looked to Chikara for help, but they just laughed at her. Shouhei realized that she needed other friends. These two definitely wouldn’t do.

"Look at Shouhei‘s Face, like a kitten! Shouhei dresses super cute! Wears cute hair clips sometimes and I mean look at these pajamas!" Shouhei noted that Taketora didn’t use any pronouns, probably because she was using female ones at the moment but he couldn’t just use them in front of everybody. Her face heated up when she realized that he actually took that into consideration. Luckily she’d be able to pull it off as embarrassment over the situation.

"Pastel pink pajamas with kittens on it! If that isn’t cute then what is? Oh and you see that cat plushy Shouhei is Holding? It was a birthday gift from me in our First year. Her Name is Tora. Shouhei named the freaking plushy after me and takes it to sleepovers and stuff. Sho-Chan is adorable!" There it was again, the Chan. She quickly went back to her spot and hugged plush Tora tighter.

"Okay, okay so you also have three adorable guys. But Karasuno still wins because the over all cute guy level is higher." Nishinoya said and Shouhei seriously began to doubt that the he was straight. Taketora, Tanaka and Nishinoya were arguing now and Shouhei was about to get a bucket of water to splash on them when Chikara intervened.

"Noya. Tanaka. We don’t win.", they calmly said. Nishinoya threw a pillow at them, but they easily dodged, as if they head expected it. They probably had. "I hereby declare Nekoma and Karasuno as equals when it comes to cute players. No arguing against me."

"How do these three convince anybody that they’re straight?", Shouhei asked quietly. "What do you mean Fukunaga?", Tanaka gasped. Shouhei realized that all her close friends except Kenma and Chikara had zero to five braincells.

"Are you serious right now?" Shouhei couldn’t remember the last time she had wanted to violently shake the stupid out of anybody this badly. "Nishinoya-san. Tanaka. Tora." she crouched directly in front of the them, then she took a deep breath. "You literally just spent ten minutes yelling about cute guys. There is NO heterosexual explanation for that!"

The three of them gaped at her for a few seconds before breaking into laughter. "You looked right through us Fukunaga-san. I‘m bi. Ryu is just queer, he doesn’t like labels.", Nishinoya whispered to her. Shouhei giggled. She had known about Tanaka and she would be lying if she said Nishinoya had been a surprise. "I‘m demisexual and bigender. My pronouns change every other day.", she whispered back. "Right now?" "She/her" 

It was nice, having people trust her enough to come out to her. Just like it was nice to be able to trust people enough to come out herself.

"Just Fukunaga is fine, Nishinoya-san." "Call me Noya then!" Suddenly Kuroo was ruffling both of their hair. "Just what are you two whispering about?" "It’s a secret." Shouhei whispered before giggling again.

After that camp, Shouhei had a new number saved in her phone. "TALL Libero" sent her memes on a daily basis, she didn’t complain.

It was almost unfair how much easier coming out to Nishinoya or Chikara had been than coming out to her parents. She had already known that her friends wouldn’t mind, but with her parents there had been nothing but uncertainty. Just like with her volleyball Team. She still wasn’t sure if she would be able to tell them, but she wanted to. She really did.

———

Tired crow: SHOUHEI I AM DIEING.

Me: (・・?)

Tired crow: TANAKA‘S SISTER FOUND OUT WE‘RE DATING AND NOW SHE‘S TRYING TO LECTURE US ON SAFE SEX!  
Tired crow: THIS WOMAN NEEDS ASAHI! 

Me: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Tired crow: Shouhei you little shi-

Shouhei dropped his phone on the futon he was sitting on and started laughing. "Uhm...Sho-Chan? What’s so funny?", Taketora asked. They were sitting next to each other and Taketora looked at Shouhei with starry eyes. Shouhei didn’t miss the blush on his friend's face. He showed his phone to Taketora, who then immediately snorted. "Saeko-nee is great."

"Okay cats, listen up." Kuroo said while clapping his hands. He was the host of the "Crackhead Kitten Team Bonding Sleepover" and had threatened everybody else to attend. "We're going to make it into the top 4 schools of Tokyo. Then we're getting a spot to nationals and then we'll win nationals. Understood? In order to do so, the team has to become one. We have to know each others darkest secrets." "Kuro are you serious? This team bonding crap was an excuse to satisfy your gossip hunger this whole time!", his boyfriend said without looking up from his game. "No idea what you're talking about kitten. Anyways, we're going to sit in a circle and everyone gets a turn to ask a question. Any question. Everyone has to answer said question truthfully. Okay? Okay." Sometimes Shouhei wondered who let this man become captain. 

Knowing that arguing against their captain was useless, everybody sat in a circle on the floor. Shouhei was sitting between Yaku and Taketora, who still hadn't stopped blushing and was now leaning on Shouhei's shoulder. "Okay I'll start.", Kuroo said with an evil glint in his eyes and Shouhei already knew that this wasn't going to end well. "Everyone, tell us three things about your crush. If you want to tell us who your crush is directly then you can also do that. Those that don't have a crush can skip this one." "By definition, that wasn't even a question,", Yaku said. "Oh shut up and tell us about your crush.", Kuroo snapped.

Yaku sighed before answering the 'question'. "Well...my crush is a guy, taller than me and a Kouhai." "Yaku-san almost every guy you know is taller than you. Those are bad hints.", Lev said. "That's the point idiot! And don't comment on my height beanpole. I. Will. Deck you.", Yaku snapped at him. "Actually, Lev. That was a good description I know exactly who it is now,", Kuroo snickered. "What who?!" "HEy Fukunaga you're next!", the Libero said in an obvious attempt to change the topic. Shouhei had mercy on him and tapped Taketora's knee. The other boy immediately understood, threw a pillow at Lev and told him and Kuroo to "Shut up and listen to Shouhei."

"Fukunaga-san has a crush? I kinda didn't expect that.", Inuoka whispered playfully and Shouhei couldn't help but think that yeah, him crushing was unexpected, especially on who he was crushing. "They play Volleyball.", Shouhei began. " "They're a second year and shorter than me but taller than Kenma." Taketora nudged Shouhei's side. "Do you like Ennoshita?", he whispered. Shouhei shook his head.  
"I have absolutely no idea who that could be.", Shibayama said. "Me neither...", Kuroo groaned. "Oh? I'm pretty sure I know who it is.", Teshiro said. "Yeah it's pretty obvious.", Kenma agreed.

"Well I also have a crush. They're taller than me, play volleyball and have longer hair than me." , Taketora said loudly and Kuroo snickered. "That one I know.", he said.

After a while it was Kenma's turn. The pudding head had become more and more interested in Kuroo's little game and put down his phone halfway through. "What's a secret about you that none or only very few of us know?", he asked. They answered this question out of order. Taketora was the first to answer. "Our previous captain was my pan awakening. I had a huge crush on him until that one time he yelled at Kenma to shut up when he was only trying to help." Everybody stared at him, until Kai broke the silence. "You have horrible taste in men Yamamoto." This lifted the mood and made several people laugh. "If Kai-san says that then that guy must've been awful.", Lev said. "Oh he was.", Kenma mumbled. And one by one, everybody revealed a secret. Except for Shouhei, who stayed silent.

"Shouhei?", Taketora hesitantly asked. "You don't have to if you don't want to.", Kenma said softly. Shouhei shook his head. "I'm bigender.", he said. Yaku put a hand on his shoulder. "That means?", he asked with that oddly comforting motherly tone of his. "Sometimes I'm a girl and sometimes I'm a boy. It just changes, from time to time." "That's okay. We all still love and respect you Fukunaga. Don't we?", Kuroo said. Everybody agreed with him. Shouhei smiled.

"Thank you for trusting us with this Fukunaga. Know that the team always has your back." Kai warmly smiled at him.  
"Gwahhh that's so cool Fukunaga-san. You're like a shapeshifter." "I think that's the most confusing thing I have ever heard you say Inuoka. But I'll let it slide. We all support you Fukunaga-san." Shibayama and Inuoka giggled.  
"Is that why you always pick female characters when I let you play? Oh and what are your pronouns?" Kenma played with a few strands of his hair.

"Sho-chan why are you crying?!" Was he crying? He hadn't even noticed until Taketora gently whipped away the single tear on his face. Shouhei just shook his head and continued smiling. "Thank you all.", he whispered. Somehow, he knew everyone had heard him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someday, someday I‘m gonna draw Fukunaga in a skirt and nobody can stop me.  
> Also this story is spiralling out of control.


	3. In the end, the skirt is still there but there's also a bunch of cats, a tiger and some crows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouhei has never spoken this much, smiled this openly and laughed this loud. This was a good year, she thinks.  
> And because Taketora is kissing Shouhei just as as the next year begins, it's clear that it's going to be another good one.

Shouhei still wasn’t able to believe it, they were going to go to nationals.  
Even After a week, it still felt surreal to her. 

Shouhei was eager to go, she could practically feel it already.  
A volleyball hitting her palm or bouncing of her arms, the cold floor against her hands and her team's warm embrace after a match. She could hear it already, the squeaking of shoes, the loud cheers, her teammates yelling encouraging words and volleyballs hitting the floor.  
She couldn’t wait for the adrenaline to curse through her body, for the excitement of the game to give her the power she needed. 

The thing she was most excited for, was to play against Chikara. Just like Kenma, she wanted to play her friend in a match were loosing meant game over.

She was so busy with her imagination and excitement, she didn't even register Taketora talking next to her on their way home. "Sho-chan are you even listening to me?" He snapped his fingers in front of her face as he said this. Shouhei's eyes widened in surprise and she was just about to apologize when Taketora chuckled and bumped their shoulders together. "You're excited. I know. It's okay. Just try focusing at practice, you missed a lot of receives today.", he said.

They continued walking in comfortable silence, shoulders touching. Shouhei barely noticed when Taketora slipped his hand into hers, but she did. Her breath hitched and she looked to her right, but Taketora was looking away from her. She smiled and didn't hesitate to gently interlace their fingers. It was funny how the big, muscly, punk looking Taketora was now blushing to the tip of his ears and refusing to look at Shouhei. She couln't stop the small giggle from escaping her lips.

Taketora's hands were rough and calloused, yet his grip was soft. Shouhei liked that. It reminded her of Taketora himself.  
Just like his hands were rough from all the volleyball, he looked intimidating, and was loud. His grades weren't the best, he tended to break things and despite not actually being a delinquent, he had gotten into a bit too many fights for Shouhei's liking already.  
Still, his hugs were warm and felt safe and his smile could light up any room. Taketora was probably one of the most respectful guys Shouhei knew, he'd lower his head in shame and look like a sad puppy whenever he realised that he had upset someone else and loved being praised like a little child. 

He always made an effort to make others smile, especially Shouhei. On their very first day of Highschool, Taketora had walked up to her and just started talking. He had practically insisted that she'd be his friend. Back then, it had been his never fading smile that made Shouhei not turn away, and as time passed that same smile made Shouhei fall in love with him. When had her silly little crush turned into something so much bigger? She honestly didn't know.

"Tora." "Hm?" There was so much she wanted to tell him, so much she wanted to do. "I'm in love with you." But for that moment those few words were enough.

Taketora didn't say anything as the two kept on walking, but Shouhei knew that this wasn't a bad thing. He squeezed her hand affectionately and looked up into the sky.

After a while, he finally spoke. "I'm in love with you too."

When it was time for them to part ways, Taketora only reluctantly let go of Shouhei's hand. Neither of them moved and for a while, they just stood there, facing each other. "So...date me?", he asked quietly. Shouhei smiled and buried her face in his shoulder. "Yeah.", she whispered.

Once she was home, she immediately ran up to her room and jumped onto her bed. She felt like a girl in a cliché romance movie, burying her face in her pillow and excitedly texting her best friend like this. But she didn't care, Taketora loved those movies and had made her watch so many of them that she started enjoying them too.

Me: Hjkskskskskdsncsjkdljihjdfsnpwaghaenöbö

Tired crow: I-  
Tired crow: Shouhei are you okay?

Me: (～￣▽￣)～ (♥️ ω ♥️) (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) 

Tired crow: Is this- are you?  
Tired crow: Are you trying to tell me that you and Yamamoto are finally dating? 

Me: o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

Tired crow: How could I tell?  
Tired crow: The word will never know. I don't even know.  
Tired crow: Anyways, I'm happy for you. It took you two long enough. Even longer than Tanaka and I, which is kinda sad to be honest.  
Tired crow: You two are kinda sad to be honest. I mean, it was obvious you liked each other and you were both just to chicken to do anything about it. With Tanaka, I didn't even know if he was into anything besides girls.  
Tired crow: Sooooooo yeah, you two are idiots, which is why you're perfect for each other. 

Me: (ヘ･_･)ヘ┳━┳  
Me: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Tired crow: Woah-  
Tired crow: No need to get aggressive.  
Tired crow: It's not my fault you and your boyfriend are just very sad beings.

Me: Physically fight me. Actually physically fight me.

Tired crow: lol

———

Dating Taketora was exactly what Shouhei imagined, maybe even a little better.

Their first date was two days after they had gotten together. They went for a walk and went to a café. It was nothing special, which made it even more special to Shouhei. Being with Taketora just felt natural, it felt safe and familiar and everything else that was positive. There was no tense atmosphere or awkwardness. Just Taketora's kitten smile, bad jokes and soft laughter.

Taketora had always been very physically affectionate with Shouhei, but now he was even more so. No matter if it was hand holding, touching shoulders, long comforting hugs, or gently pressing their foreheads together. He was always touching her. She liked that, his touch was warm and familiar.

Everything felt right, when she was with him, she felt so comfortable and at home that she didn't even care that she sometimes broke her usual talking limit by far. Even if her throat felt sore from laughing too much afterwards, spending time with her boyfriend was her favourite thing to do.

———

The two of them made no effort in hiding their relationship from their team or parents. Everyone in the Yamamoto family had been convinced that they were dating already anyways and the Fukunaga couple had been told by their child right away. They already knew that their team wouldn't have a problem with them, so they didn't keep it a secret, just never explicitly said it.  
Maybe it was because their relationship felt so natural not only to them, but to everybody around them that their team didn't notice the change.  
There wasn't much change to begin with anyways.

"JUST GET YOUR LIFE TOGETHER AND ASK HER ON A DATE!" Ten minutes. Inuoka had spent ten whole minutes babbling about some girl in his class he had a crush on and Shouhei was close to telling him to just ask her out himself when his boyfriend had done it for him. "HAAAA? I CAN'T DO THAT YAMAMOTO-SAN! What is she rejects me?!" "Then things will be a little awkward between you for a while and you can go back to being friends afterwards.", Taketora chuckled. "I don't think you have to worry about that anyways, it sounds like she likes you back. So ask her out and we'll even let you brag about having an awesome girlfriend.", he said while ruffling his Kouhai's hair. Shouhei smiled, Taketora really just was a big softie who liked to act like a delinquent.

"I agree that he should ask her out. Sorry, that doesn't sound very convincing coming from you Yamamoto." , Yaku said. "What are you trying to say Yaku-san?" Taketora faked being offended as he spoke. "He wasn't trying to be mean this time, I swear. It just really doesn't sound convincing from someone who probably never went on a date in all his life." Kuroo said while laughing. The confusion on his face when Taketora didn't start a playful argument with him, but instead looked at him as if he was stupid, was clearly visible. Nobody said a word, until Shouhei couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing.

Everyone looked at him confused, even Kenma, this made him laugh even more. When he finally calmed down, he whipped a tear from his face. "Tora they don't know. They didn't notice!", he said. Taketora snorted. "Seriously?", he asked. "Oh my god Shouhei and I have been dating for like almost a month now!" Realization dawned on Kuroo and the hyena laugh was suddenly back. This made everyone but Yaku laugh too, even Kenma and Kai chuckled.

"Why didn't you tell us?!", Yaku asked clearly confused. "We thought we were being obvious?", Taketora answered just as confused. "You so weren't!", Lev exclaimed. "We held hands in front of you all the time, I kissed his cheek at practice yesterday. What do you wants us to do? Make out in front of you?!" After Taketora's words had sunk in, Kuroo slapped his own face so hard it shouldn't be considered a facepalm. "OH YOU DID how didn't any of us realize that!" "It's because it feels normal.", Kenma then murmured.

Everybody turned to him, wondering what he meant. He sighed. "They were always around each other anyways. The close physical contact was so normal by now so nobody really paid attention to it. Most of us probably did notice the handholding but unconsciously wrote it off as the usual." Kenma never looked up from his phone while saying this. Everyone seemed to agree with this, even Lev and Inuoka who probably hadn't even understood him.

As soon as the attention shifted again, Kenma tapped Shouhei's arm. "By the way, congrats on getting your crap together. I was afraid you two would continue pining until our third year." They made direct eye contact as he said this and Shouhei smiled. He had made some pretty awesome friends in his two years of highschool, hadn't he?

———

Shouhei wasn’t really sure how to describe whatever she was feeling, but if she had to guess she probably would've gone with being grateful.

She had no idea how Kuroo had convinced everyone's parents to let their kids spend new year's eve at his house, but she wasn't going to question it. The whole team was there, celebrating and hyping themselves up for nationals. At first Shouhei had been nervous to wear a skirt in front of her team, but with Nishinoya's, Tanaka's, Chikara's and Taketora's encouragement, she knew that she had nothing to fear. 

When she had shown up in her favourite skirt, nobody gave her a weird look or said something harmful. Instead, Lev and Inuoka excitedly complemented her. "You look so pretty! Shibayama look at Fukunaga-san, she's so pretty!" The two of them didn't even know how happy those words made her. She really didn't have to be afraid when she was with her team. For that, she was grateful.

It was a fun night. Inuoka kept bragging about his girlfriend, Kai had destroyed all of them at Karaoke, Kuroo had managed to get drunk, and Teshiro was secretly a just dance god. But Shouhei was the kind of person, who needed some peace and quiet once in a while, so she sneaked out of the mess that was Kuroo's living room and sat down in the garden.

She looked up at the stars and took a deep breath. So much had happened this year.  
Shouhei had finally figured herself out, she knew who she was and it felt better than good.  
She had made new friends, friends that she would’ve never wished for but always needed and had strengthened her bond with her old friends and felt more comfortable and save around them than ever.  
And then there was Taketora. She had found love.

"Sho-Chan, mind if I join you?" Shouhei instantly recognized the voice as Taketora‘s and just patted the space next to her. How could she ever mind being with him?

He sat down on the grass next to her and gently slung his arm around her waist. She laid her head on his shoulder. It felt nice. Save? Familiar? Right. It felt right.

Shouhei found herself intertwining her right hand with Taketora‘s and looking at his face.  
In that moment, she was sure that he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Slowly, her gaze wandered to his lips. They had never kissed before. Not on the lips at least. This would be a great moment to finally do it, she thought.

And as if he was reading her thoughts, Taketora spoke. "Alone in a secluded area of a party, gazing at the stars together, a few seconds before midnight...This would be the perfect cliche moment to have our first kiss." He looked longingly at the sky.

Shouhei had made a decision.

"Kiss me then.", she said. Taketora stared at her in shock. "What?", he asked. "I said, kiss me." And he smiled. That kitten smile that still made Shouhei‘s inside do flips.

Taketora cupped her face with the hand that wasn’t already intertwined with hers and pressed their foreheads together. "I love you, Shouhei.", he whispered. And suddenly their lips met.

The kiss was just what Shouhei imagined it as. Taketora’s lips were chapped and the hand on her cheek was rough, but the kiss itself was still so unbelievably soft and sweet and just so Taketora. She loved it.

She heard her friends‘ loud cheers from somewhere behind her and oh- this meant it was midnight how cliche was this going to get? 

After what probably were the best 10 to 20 seconds in Shouhei‘s entire life, Taketora slowly pulled away. 

Shouhei placed a hand on the one that was cupping her face and whispered into her boyfriend‘s ear. "I love you too Tora." 

Cliche wasn’t so bad when it was with Taketora, Shouhei decided. Maybe she even liked the cliches?

"HEY LOVEBIRDS! Come back in and party with us already!", Kuroo called. 

Said lovebirds chuckled and made their way back, hands still intertwined. "Hey Sho-Chan can I ask you something?", he said right before they entered the living room.

"That’s your favorite skirt right? Why?" She squeezed his hand and took a few seconds to consider her answer. Then she spoke.

"Well...This year made everything so much better than I thought it would be and...it all started with this skirt."

He smiled at that as if he knew what she meant, he clearly didn’t but hey, this was one of his charm points. Then he turned to her, gave her one last peck on the lips and ran towards the others.

Yeah, this year was definitely going to be a Good one.

TALL Libero: ITS NEW YEARS FUKUNAGA WOOOP

The best year.

Angery birb: YESSSS ANOTHER YEAR OF CHAOS! HAPPY NEW YEARS FUKUNAGA!

Without a doubt.

Tired crow: Happy new Year Shouhei!

She was sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uhm...yeah...this happened. I think I like this. I might just start writing one shots with this in mind after I wrote the next chapter for the Tsukkiyama thingy.  
> Thanks for reading this fic. I hope you have great day/night/whatever (let's be real, most people are reading fanfiction in the middle of the night)

**Author's Note:**

> the Fact that this is my longest fic yet AND that I already planned the second chapter scares me


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